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Mr. Popper's Penguins | 2011 | PG | - 1.3.2

Adaptation of the 1938 children's book, set in contemporary Manhattan: When a distant father and ruthless businessman (Jim Carrey) inherits six penguins, he soon learns that the balance between work, life and personal space is easier when you add a little unexpected help. Also with Carla Gugino, Angela Lansbury, Ophelia Lovibond, Madeline Carroll and Clark Gregg. Directed by Mark Waters. [1:35]

SEX/NUDITY 1 - A man and a woman act as though they are about to kiss and the man then hugs the woman and she pulls away.
 A man rubs his chest (it is implied that he's rubbing his nipples) and addresses a joke to a penguin: "Of course they are, it's cold in here." A teen girl tells a man that a teen boy had kissed another teen girl. A man implies to another man that the egg of a penguin is not viable.
 As a man and a woman ice skate, the man trips and falls under the woman and the woman falls on top of the man. A penguin, sliding on the ground, appears to rip the skirt from a woman's dress; no nudity is visible.

VIOLENCE/GORE 3 - All the violence in the film is played for laughs.
 A teen girl kicks a soccer ball at her father, it hits him in the face and we see him fall to the ground; we later see the man with a piece of tissue in his nose, implying a broken nose, but no blood is visible. A boy kicks a soccer ball at his father, it hits him in the crotch, and the man doubles over in pain and moans slightly; the boy jokingly mimics being doubled over in pain as well.
 A man slams a gate closed on another man, he reaches through the gate and grabs an animal snare, wraps it around the man's wrists, and then pushes the man's fists into his own face three times and teases him about punching himself in the face.
 A man opens a door and a wave of water pours out, and the force of the water lifts him up and pushes him off the ledge of a stairway; moments later we see the man gripping onto the edge of the floor and it is implied that he lets go but is unharmed.
 People gasp when they see a penguin cornered on the roof of a building, and two men approach it with nets and animal snares; the penguin jumps from the building, but is lifted up into the air by a kite wrapped around its back, and the penguin glides through the air and lands in a car, unharmed.
 A penguin slams into a cooler (the penguin is unharmed), the man pushing the cooler dumps the contents (ice and water) on the ground, six penguins slide down a multi-story ramp, and as they slide men women leap to get out of the way, a man almost leaps over the side of the ramp but is caught by a woman, a man is hit in the leg by a penguin and people generally leap to get out of the way moments before the penguins hit them; the penguins slide off a statue and through the air, crashing into an orchestra pit (the penguins are unharmed)
 On multiple occasions we see a penguin biting people, including biting a man's foot and snapping at a man's hand. A penguin bites a man's ankle, causing him to drop the coffee out of his mug. Six penguins shout and rush toward a woman after they are scared by a seal bearing its teeth on television; the woman screams and runs away and the penguins run after her.
 A man lifts up a penguin and throws it down a hallway on its stomach (the penguin is unharmed). A penguin is seen spinning around in a toilet as a man shouts at it. On multiple occasions we see a penguin slipping as it tries to climb up a bathtub, and sliding into a wall as it tries to walk and then hitting it again after righting itself up (the penguin is unharmed). A penguin rolls off a bed and onto the floor (it is unharmed). A penguin is smacked with a soccer ball and it seems unfazed. A penguin stumbles down a flight of stairs (it is unharmed).
 Two men hear crashing sounds coming from behind a door and a man tells another man that he hears scratching and shrieking coming from a behind a door.
 A man tricks another man into standing inside of a cooler, the man then closes the door, we hear the man shouting from inside the cooler and moments later see the man released, unharmed, by a third man.
 On multiple occasions a teen girl shouts at her father. A man shouts at a woman. A man shouts in front of a people that he would rather have his hands cut off and knives stuck into his eyes than his current circumstances, and he then says he would have to have help cutting off his hands; a woman calms him down. A penguin wakes up a man by screaming in his face and the man screams back. A man implies that another man's father had died, as he reads the man's last will and testament. A man tells a woman that his father had died. A man implies to another man that the egg of a penguin is not viable; the man is visibly upset by the news. A man tells another man that penguins will contract mange and rashes and a man tells his son that penguins could contract mange and rashes. A boy tells his father that his sister is an explosive device and the father needs to defuse the bomb without it going "boom"; he then jokingly tells the man that "This is the Hurt Locker." A man tells another man a story about his father being caught in a giant storm at sea; he survived unharmed even after his sail ripped. A man playfully mimes that he is going to shove a woman with a hockey stick. A man jokes that three penguin eggs could become three penguin omelets. A man tells another man that penguins occasionally need to be eaten by whales. A man jokes that he is a zombie, saying he is "eating brains and taking names." A man tells another man that his job is picking up only dead animals. A woman teases a man about losing a teen girl (his daughter) in a store when she was younger; the man laughs and says that it was only for one hour.
 A man grabs another man by the collar and then releases him moments later. A woman stages a fall, throwing herself on the ground as a man comes running and the woman tells the man that she had been pricked by a porcupine; moments later she stands up, unharmed.
 A man slams his shin on a box and winces in pain; we see him grab his leg but he appears unharmed moments later. As a man and a woman ice skate, the man trips and falls under the woman and the woman falls on top of the man; they are both unharmed.
 A teen girl throws a snowball at her father, the man playfully throws a snowball at a boy and then we see the boy, teen girl and the man wrestling playfully in the snow, and dumping snow on one another.
 On multiple occasions we see penguins defecating or flatulating, including the following: a penguin defecates on a man's foot and we hear the sound and see liquid feces splatter on his shoe; a penguin poses above a man's head, lifts its tail and we hear the sounds of defecation and see liquid feces coming from the penguin's behind (it is implied that it hits the man's face as we hear him shout); a man lifts a penguin and it defecates into a toilet as the man squeezes its torso, and we hear the sounds of defecation and see liquid feces coming out of the penguin, followed by the man repeating the process with a second penguin; on multiple occasions a penguin experiences loud flatulence, including pointing its behind at a man and flatulating, flatulating while standing in front of a man, a woman and two children, and flatulating while walking and while sitting in a tub of water (we see bubbles come up in the water). A man flips up the lid of a toilet and it is implied that he is about to urinate (no nudity is visible) but is interrupted.

LANGUAGE 2 - 2 anatomical terms (1 mild), 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (endangered sequoia, older and weaker and with a funny smell, driving around with their turn signal on for miles, warped, shark town, snake oil salesmen, crazy, stupid thing, Chilly Willy, Pecky Peckerton, old man, Hawkeye, complete amateur, desperate and dumb, big fat friend, spaz, traitors, buzzkill, insane, liar, slick, slave traders, looks like Chef Boyardee), exclamations (heck, doggone it, oh my gosh, Pete's sake, I don't give a rat's butt, shut up, what the), 9 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - A woman jokes, "I don't do drugs," when a man quotes a song. Men and women are seen holding glasses of champagne, a man discusses champagne and we later see him pouring some for a woman and he then drinks from the bottle (he promptly spits it out), a woman tells a man that her father had poured champagne for someone, a woman is seen with a glass of wine in front of her, and a man jokes to a woman that "You're drunk, I like that."

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Disappointment, animal control, animal cruelty, growing to appreciate your loved ones, gender equality, family, divorce, reconciliation, Tavern on the Green, preserving historical landmarks, bribery.

MESSAGE - It is never too late to enjoy time with your loved ones.

(Note: In an animated short that precedes the feature, we see Scrat (a saber-toothed squirrel, cracking a mountain in half and then falling into the crater caused by the crack; Scrat claws at the sides of the pit as it falls until it catches hold and briefly explodes into flames. Scrat then lands on a ball and bounces onto the sides of a cavern, the ball spins, Scrat is wrapped around the ball and stretched as it circles around the core, its body stretching and wrapping around the ball multiple times until it snaps back and flies through the cavern and above the earth. Finally it plummets onto a small block of ice and we later see Scrat looking exhausted and sick as it struggles to lift its head.)

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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